While everyone was in a huff over Lebron going to Miami, I was getting worked up about Leicester Bryce Stovell claiming to be his father and suing him and his mother for $4,000,000. As I said on twitter, “nothing says I love you son like suing him and his mother for millions.” :-/
The long and short of the story is that Mr. Stovell claims he met Lebron’s mother when she was 15 (and he was 29, gross), they have bad sex and later she told him she was pregnant. He never directly asks her if the baby is his, nor does she ever confirm his suspicion. He told her if the baby is his make sure he plays basketball. She said “ok.” This statement and the fact that he believes they look alike (they really don’t) are the reasons why he believes Lebron is his. In spite of his mother’s wishes, Lebron did participate in a paternity test with his father and the results concluded that Leicester was not the father. But Mr. Stovell wasn’t going out like that and insists that the results were tampered with.
Which got me to thinking? At what point do you lose your “right” to be a father? It always makes me angry when I hear about celebrities who grew up with their fathers and then as soon as they make it big, here goes dad. We saw this with Oprah, who wouldn’t even give the latest contender the time of day. Is there a statue of limiations on when you come back into a kid’s life? And do they have to let you back in? To that last question, I give a resounding no. I think that if you neglect your child until adulthood, you cannot roll back in their live and try to play parent. It doesn’t work that way. As a friend says, “if you aren’t there for the grind, you can’t be there for the shine.” Or something like that.
Even if this man is Lebron’s father, which I don’t think he is, what does he deserve? What’s his prize for doing what he should have done 20-something years ago? So you’re the father, now we all have a face to the absent father who did absolutely nothing but contribute some genes to this man’s success. That does not earn you $4 mil. I don’t think it’s slander to say you weren’t there because you weren’t there. He needs to go to the hood and mentor some kids or something – or take the good Princeton education and tutor someone, but please, leave Lebron and his mother alone. They do not owe you anything.
Very Smart Brothas also wrote about this issue – but talking about how Lebron reminds that men can have daddy issues too. Good read, check it out.
peace,
e.
. i started ready to hate because she was talking shit about some of my friends in her “ruhbuhduh” chapter. i was ready to be all snarky and hate (hate hate hate) when i realized that’s some shit i would say (maybe even have said, meh). and as i read this book, all i can think is this chick does not give a fuck who she pisses off. she’s going for hers. she has a published book and movie deal. i have two raggedy articles and about 4 blogs that i don’t write on because i’m punking out worrying about strangers or people i don’t like.